Concern mounting over ‘extensive’ Upper Highwood logging plans in Kananaskis

KANANASKIS COUNTRY – Thousands of Albertans are voicing opposition to a plan to clearcut about 2,000 football fields worth of forest in Kananaskis Country’s Upper Highwood set to begin this winter.

Conservationists and other concerned groups say Spray Lakes Sawmills’ (SLS) plan to harvest the 1,100-hectare plot – including a stretch along the Highwood River – threatens environment, wildlife habitat and recreation in the area.

“There’s a number of concerns. A lot of it has to do with implications on habitat itself,” said Amber Toner with Take a Stand for the Upper Highwood, an advocacy group formed in 2017 in response to another logging project in the area that saw 450 hectares removed.

“The logging is happening along 21 kilometres of the Highwood River and that river is home to some species like our at-risk native trout species here in Alberta. That area is also home to grizzly bears and so many other species that live there.” |Read more https://www.albertaprimetimes.com/beyond-local/concern-mounting-over-extensive-upper-highwood-logging-plans-in-kananaskis-7416151|

#kananaskis #environment #logging #ThreatenedSpecies #abpoli